[CA] Via Rail starts campaign for renewal of long distance fleet

[jamesontheroad]

VIA Rail Canada held a press conference at its Montréal workshops this week to draw attention to the diminishing availability of its “Heritage” fleet of stainless steel passenger carriages. About 25 out of 200 cars are out of service right now, and spare parts usually have to be fabricated by VIA due to a lack of availability.

The aim of the event was to begin the campaign for the federal government in Ottawa to approve funding for the purchase of new long distance railway carriages. If nothing happens, VIA Rail predicts long distance services will start being suspended around 2035.

Video from yesterday’s Global National (one of Canada’s commercial network prime time news programmes) with a glimpse instead the workshops.

 

[williamn]

Will be interesting to see where this leads. Massively expensive and it's mostly (but not totally) a tourist service, at least The Canadian. I guess this would also cover the Ocean and the trail to Churchill too though.

 

[John-H]

Will be interesting to see where this leads. Massively expensive and it's mostly (but not totally) a tourist service, at least The Canadian. I guess this would also cover the Ocean and the trail to Churchill too though.

Will a train that runs 3 times a week ever carry anything but tourists?

 

[Tester]

For anyone interested in following this in more detail, the 'Canadian Passenger Rail' io group is a mine of information.

Link for more information

 

[philg999]

To replace 200 cars of a variety of configurations appropriate for a 2-day mini cruise will require a custom order for very bespoke cars and will be incredibly expensive for such a small order! Maybe they can team up with Amtrak when they order replacements for their own long distance fleet?

 

[eldomtom2]

Will a train that runs 3 times a week ever carry anything but tourists?

Depends on how you define "tourists". Most of Amtrak's ridership on its long-distance trains are visiting friends and family or going on holiday - only a fairly small amount are taking the train for the sake of taking the train.
Of course, when compared to Via, Amtrak's long-distance network is luxurious, with all routes except two having a train every day and none having pre-1970s rolling stock. And when the state-supported and NEC serivces are taken into account as well, Amtrak just looks better and better - Vancouver sees seven times more Amtrak trains than it does Via trains...

 

[williamn]

Depends on how you define "tourists". Most of Amtrak's ridership on its long-distance trains are visiting friends and family or going on holiday - only a fairly small amount are taking the train for the sake of taking the train.
Of course, when compared to Via, Amtrak's long-distance network is luxurious, with all routes except two having a train every day and none having pre-1970s rolling stock. And when the state-supported and NEC serivces are taken into account as well, Amtrak just looks better and better - Vancouver sees seven times more Amtrak trains than it does Via trains...

Though to be fair, the quality of VIA long distance far outstrips Amtrak for comfort, food and service. Food on Amtrak in particular is dire.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Makes sense if they get more Siemens Charger locos for commonality with the fleet they already have.

 

[FormerBritInMe]

Though to be fair, the quality of VIA long distance far outstrips Amtrak for comfort, food and service. Food on Amtrak in particular is dire.

Actually the food on the western trains and the "silver" trains to Florida, referred to as "traditional dining" is quite good. The remainder of the Eastern trains including the Chicago - San Antonio TX Texas Eagle is so called "flexible dining" which varies in quality from mediocre to terrible depending on the reheating skills of the attendants.